FCE Dean Receives Clair C. Patterson Award for Outstanding Achievements in Environmental Geochemistry

Prof. Xiang-dong Li, Dean of Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) and Chair Professor of Environmental Science and Technology, was honoured with the Clair C. Patterson Award 2022 in recognition of his cutting-edge research in environmental geochemistry within the last decade. His research projects mainly aim at addressing real-world environmental problems, by engaging in the fields of regional contamination, urban air PM2.5 pollution, and the origin and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. Prof. Li was proud to be presented with this prestigous award, as it is an international recognition to not only himself but also the PolyU research team, for their dedication in making an impact in the communities and the wider world.

Prof. Li is also the Director of Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) and Ko Jan Ming Professor in Sustainable Urban Development at PolyU. He has published more than 250 papers over the years, and has over 10 publications listed among the top 1% most cited papers in Environment/Ecology by the ISI database. He has also been the principal investigator of numerous research projects funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

Presenting the Clair C. Patterson Award to only one recipient annually, the Geochemical Society is a non-profit scientific organisation established in 1955 to encourage the application of chemistry to the solution of geological and cosmochemical problems, as well as to promote understanding of geochemistry through a wide range of programmes.

 
   

Research Projects of FCE Awarded RGC Collaborative Research Fund for the Betterment of Society

Three multi-disciplinary research projects led by FCE scholars have been supported by the RGC Collaborative Research Fund in 2021/22 exercise, with a total funding amounting to over HK$16 million. Two of the projects aim to identify solutions that can address the impact of COVID-19 and novel infectious diseases, and the other project is expected to contribute to achieve a low carbon society in Hong Kong.

Project Coordinator Project
Prof. Guo Hai
Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)		 Is the Usual Social Distance Sufficient to Avoid Airborne Infection of Expiratory Droplets in Indoor Environments? (Awarded Amount: HK$ 4,703,090)

Under the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, determining proper social distancing in indoor environments becomes vital in terms of controlling the rapid spread of respiratory infectious diseases. Through expiratory activities, airborne virus-laden droplets may spread over long distances, such as tens of meters in indoor environments, and remain in the air for a long time, making it an important route of exposure. The project will use systematic, multidisciplinary experimental, theoretical and modelling approaches to explore the detailed mechanism of virus spread through airborne expiratory droplets, and thus to enrich scientific evidence on social distancing for public health policies.

Prof. John Shi
Dept of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) 		Spatiotemporal Prediction and Real-time Early Warning of COVID-19 Onset Risk (Awarded Amount: HK$ 6,964,000)

This project aims to develop the methods for predicting the onset risk of COVID-19 symptoms, like fever and cough, in space and time at a fine scale (i.e., within a city). To achieve high prediction accuracy, the methods will incorporate fine-scale transmissibility and other epidemiologic features of different SARS-CoV-2 variants, at the same time the impacts of fine-scale urban characteristics and social contacts on COVID-19 transmission. A mobile application system will be developed to deliver the risk predictions and send active real-time early warning of high-risk areas or routes to the public. The project is expected to support lower-cost and more effective long-term control of COVID-19 and potential future epidemics.
Prof. Charles Wong
Dept of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics(LSGI)		 Study of Carbon Sequestration in Hong Kong’s Vegetation: from Present to Future Prediction under Climate Change (Awarded Amount: HK$ 4,949,639)

Carbon stock and carbon sequestration of vegetation play a pivotal role to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. For a low carbon economy under the Government’s Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2030+, study on carbon storage capacity of local vegetation and sequestration rates for rural and urban areas becomes crucial. The project proposes to use geospatial technologies to map and estimate the biomass and carbon sequestration of Hong Kong’s vegetation, by integrating satellite-, airborne-, and ground-based remote sensing technologies.
 
 
   

RGC Research Impact Fund Supports BEEE Scholar to Develop High-quality Lighting and Imaging Systems

The RGC Research Impact Fund (RIF) aims to foster impactful research collaboration with stakeholders beyond academia, and for the benefit of wider community. Dr Tommy Wei of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering (BEEE) received HK$5.7 million RIF funding for his project entitled “Deeper Understanding of Color Matching Mechanism for Developing High-quality Lighting and Imaging Systems”. His research seeks to understand how human eyes and brains work together to perceive the same color appearance produced by stimuli with different spectral compositions, especially those with highly structured spectra. The project, among the two winning projects of PolyU, is expected to contribute to the development of high quality lighting (e.g., LEDs, OLEDs and laser diodes) and imaging (e.g., displays, cameras and printers) systems. Led by Dr Wei, the research team engaging in this impactful project includes color scientists, vision scientists, and neuroscientists from both local and overseas universities, world-leading high-tech companies, US national laboratory, as well as international standardization bodies.

 
   
 

CNERC-Rail’s Modular Rail Particle Damper Technology Wins 3rd Prize in Competition

A research team from the Chinese National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Centre (Hong Kong Branch) (CNERC-Rail) won the third prize in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition of National Innovation Center of High Speed Train, with their modular rail particle damper (MRPD) technology. Established at PolyU by the State Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in 2015, CNERC-Rail’s mission is to conduct 6ranslational research on rail technical innovations for high speed rail. The development of the MRPD by the project team, led by Prof. Yi-Qing Ni who is Director of CNERC-Rail and Chair Professor of Smart Structures and Rail Transit of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is effective in controlling rail corrugation and broadband vibration as well as mitigating noise, thus was installed in the Shenzhen Metro line in January 2022. It is expected to be further installed to other Shenzhen lines in the future.
 
 
   

Research of BEEE for Electrical Safety in Urbane Villages Supported by Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau

Prof. Du Yaping of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering (BEEE) received RMB 1.4 million from Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau (SPSB) in supporting his project on Key Technologies for Proactive Protection against Electric Shock in Urbane Villages. The project, with the help of joint PolyU/SPSB Electrical Safety Laboratory, aims at developing a sturdy safe-failure and cost-effective solution for village buildings, where poor workmanship of electrical installations, non-standard-compliant design and aging of electrical equipment often pose a high risk of electric shock.

 
   

 

LSGI Surveying Technologies Supports Archeological Field Work for Warplane Wreckage from WWII

Dr Wallace Lai from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) and his research team assisted in an archeological survey of a downed warplane in World War II at Tai Tam Country Park. As a part of “Project Avenger”, the 12-day field work in November 2021 gathered an international team of archaeologists, engineers, forensics experts and over 250 volunteers. In identifying possible impact sites in the wilderness of Tai Tam, Dr Lai’s team utilised air-borne LiDAR data from HKSAR Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) to portrait the terrain model. The project team successfully recorded 600 fragments in the crash site, which are believed to be the wreckage of a US warplane “TBM Avenger” crashed in 1945, the final year of the war. Dr Lai’s team also recorded the coordinates with the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) in a variable of 2cm, re-constructed 3D models of the fragments by close-range photogrammetry and laser scanners, and mapped the underground objects by ground penetrating radar and metal detector. This cross-disciplinary collaboration showcases the application of LSGI’s latest surveying technologies in historical and archeological research and unfolds the untold and undiscovered wartime history in Hong Kong.
 
 
   

PolyU’s Supporter Joins Hands with the University to Advance Research on Aerospace Technology through the Endowed Professorship Scheme

The PolyU Endowed Professorship Scheme recognises the achievements of world-renowned researchers in their specialised discipline to create societal impact for the betterment of mankind. Prof. Wu Bo, Associate Head (Research) and Professor of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), is appointed to the newly established Fiona Cheung Professorship in Spatial Science under the scheme. Prof. Wu has been a key contributor in several National Space exploration missions. His innovative 3D topographic mapping and geomorphological analysis techniques were utilised in the landing site mapping and selection for China’s Chang’E-3, Chang’E-4, Chang’E-5 lunar missions, and the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars. The development of “Novel Integrated 3D Mapping Model” in 2016 for improved accuracy and consistency in mapping products is another proud achievement of Prof. Wu.

Ms Fiona Cheung Sum-yu, MH, Chairman of Forest Zone Limited, has been a key supporter of PolyU and has been actively engaging herself in community service and philanthropic activities within and beyond Hong Kong. This endowed professorship, generously supported by Ms Cheung, encourages young scholars to follow the footstep of Prof. Wu Bo in devoting his career to research and innovation, making positive contributions to the development of the Nation and the world.

 
   
 

Philip K.H. Wong Foundation Supports BEEE Research Efforts on COVID-19 and IAQ

Dr Horace KW Mui of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering (BEEE) recently received a generous donation from Philip K.H. Wong Foundation. The donation was initiated by Dr Raymond Wong, the son of the Foundation Councillor Dr Wilson Wong and the Chairman of Raymond Industrial Limited, in recognition and support of Dr Mui’s continuous research efforts and contributions on COVID-19, indoor air quality, building sustainability and related areas. Raymond Industrial Limited is engaged in the design and the manufacture of household appliances including air purification and grooming products.

Knowing the threat of airborne transmission of viruses in the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Mui has been putting a lot of efforts in his research on the prevention of coronavirus transmissions in indoor spaces. He has developed an air-monitoring device to identify high-risk areas for pathogen transmission and areas with high level of pollutants. He was awarded an RGC CRF project in 2020/21 on evaluating the infection risks of various ventilation strategies in general human-occupied areas within hospitals.

Philip K.H. Wong Foundation, as a recognized charitable organization in Hong Kong, provides scholarships, bursaries and research funding to universities in Hong Kong and mainland China.

 
 
   

LSGI Student Receives the FCE Outstanding Student Award 2021

Miss Mao Hoi Ching Jacqueline, a BSc (Hons) in Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics student from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), has been selected as the winner of the Outstanding Student Awards 2021 at both Department and Faculty levels. Jacqueline has distinguished herself not only in her outstanding academic achievement, but also in her active participation in extra-curricular activities and community service. She took part in the MTR Yellow Head Train Survey, served in the neighborhood via events held by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group – Heng Fa Chuen Youth S.P.O.T., and won the 2020 Student BIM Challenge. In 2019, Jacqueline went to the Guangdong-Hong Kong Youth Volunteer Service Cooperation Camp, where she participated in various voluntary services in grass-roots areas of Guangdong Province, providing teaching assistance and cultural promotion to local residents.

 
   
 

FCE Associate Dean Appointed to the QAC’s Register of Auditors

Prof. Charles Wong, Associate Dean (Teaching) of FCE, is appointed as a local auditor to the Quality Assurance Council (QAC)’s Register of Auditors, on the nomination by the University. With the appointment effective from April 2022, Prof. Wong will serve in an Audit Panel and obligate to assist the University Grants Committee (UGC) in assuring the quality of programmes and educational experience offered in UGC-funded universities. The QAC is a semi-autonomous non-statutory body under UGC to conduct institutional audits and promote quality assurance and enhancement.

 
 
 

FORTHCOMING
EVENTS

   World Engineering Day 2022
Organizer: The World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO)
Date: 4 March 2022 (Friday)
Details: https://worldengineeringday.net/ 		 
 
      The Launch Ceremony of the FCE Fund
Date: 26 March 2022 (Saturday)
Time: 10:30am – 11:00am
Format: Online
 
 
      FCE Alumni Reunion Day 2022
Date: Postponed until further notice
  
 
 
 
 

INVITATION FOR
PROGRAMME ADMISSION 2022/23

  
 

Applications are invited for the following programmes.
Undergraduate Programmes https://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/study/undergraduate-programmes/
Taught Postgraduate Programmes https://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/study/taught-postgraduate-programmes/
Research Postgraduate Programmes https://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/study/research-postgraduate-programme/

For e-Prospectus, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/study